Combat ship Freedom goes to sea

Chief Petty Officer Richard Schaefer (center, foreground) and his sailors form part of the boat crew for one of the ship&apos;s rigid hull inflatable boats during a media tour of the USS Freedom, which is scheduled to leave on deployment Friday.

Chief Petty Officer Richard Schaefer (center, foreground) and his sailors form part of the boat crew for one of the ship's rigid hull inflatable boats during a media tour of the USS Freedom, which is scheduled to leave on deployment Friday.

The San Diego-based ship will try to deliver on the Navy’s plan to “forward station” these ships in Singapore, a tiny nation on the tip of Malaysia. The littoral ships are a cornerstone of the Pentagon’s new Asia strategy.

For all these reasons, all eyes are on the 378-foot ship.

“There’s no doubt about it that this is an important deployment for this ship and the crew and for the health of this class of ship,” said Cmdr. Tim Wilke, commander of one of Freedom’s two crews.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet commander made a point of saying that the Navy is sticking to the Freedom’s deployment schedule, despite sweeping budget cuts known as sequestration that began Friday. The Navy recently canceled the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman’s turn in the Persian Gulf because of the same funding shortfall.

“Even in the face of potential budget cuts, there should be no doubt that the U.S. Pacific Fleet remains on watch and that we will continue to deploy our most capable units forward to operate with our allies and partners,” Adm. Cecil Haney said in a release.

So off goes the Freedom, with a few noticeable changes since it first arrived in San Diego Bay in April 2010.

Thanks to a bright idea from the crew, the Navy painted the ship a gray camouflage pattern.

It’s a throwback to World War I and II paint schemes. Before modern radar and other means of targeting, the camo look was used to visually confuse the enemy.

“There is a tactical purpose to it. As we operate close to the land, (it’s) trying to mask ourselves,” Wilke said. “But there is also, I’ll admit, an aesthetic reason. I think the ship looks really neat.”

Navy officials said they were going to paint the hull anyway, and the camo pattern didn’t cost extra. World War II veterans are now becoming Facebook fans because of the vintage look, one ship officer said.

The Freedom also carries more people in its core crew. Originally, the highly automated littoral ships were supposed to sail with a 40-person core crew. It was an experiment with “lean manning,” as compared with a similarly sized frigate with a 150-person crew.

But Navy officials decided to add 10 extra sailors to help maintain and repair the ship. It also added three ensigns, the lowest rank among officers, as a pilot project.

To accommodate them, workers added beds. Now some of the Freedom’s staterooms — swanky by Navy standards — have three-high bunks, like other ships.

That’s just a recent example of changes in what’s been a controversial program.

The Navy planned to build 55 littoral ships, making the class nearly a fifth of the future U.S. fleet. The number recently dropped to 52, but officials said shifting U.S. strategy in Africa, not criticism of the new ship, was driving the change.

The Navy decided in 2001 that it wanted these low-cost, speedy, shallow-draft vessels to fight in coastal waters — the littorals. The idea was to take on small boats, like those used by terrorists, pirates and drug runners. The concept also called for plug-in components that would allow the ships to switch from fighting boats to hunting submarines to clearing mines.

The littorals were supposed to replace three types of retiring ships — frigates, mine sweepers and patrol craft.

But the program bogged down in the mid-2000s. The first two ships, the Freedom and the Independence, cost in the neighborhood of triple the expected $220 million unit price.

The Navy had planned to choose between two vastly different prototype designs, then decided to build 10 of each.

The Freedom is the more traditional, single-hulled version. What makes it different is a shallow, 13-foot draft and speed in excess of 40 knots. A destroyer, by comparison, has a top speed of 30 knots with a 32-foot draft.

The Independence variant is an aluminum trimaran. Longer, at 419 feet, it rides above the water and looks unlike any other American warship.

When built, both versions exhibited cracks and corrosion and sometimes broke down in the middle of the ocean.

One watchdog group said the Navy should scrap the Freedom series.

Congress also came down hard, especially after a 2011 Pentagon report said the littorals are “not expected to be survivable in a hostile combat environment.”

But the Navy stood by the ship. Officials argued that most first-of-class ships experience growing pains. On cost, later littoral ships are expected to come in below $460 million.

The Independence arrived in San Diego last year and has spent much of its time testing mine-hunting equipment that is still under development. That will likely continue until late 2014, said Capt. Kenneth Coleman, LCS requirements officer for the Naval Surface Forces command in San Diego.

As a result, the second Freedom-class ship, the Fort Worth, will be the second littoral combat ship to deploy from San Diego to Singapore. That’s likely at least a year away.

Eventually, the Navy expects to assign its littorals to Singapore and Bahrain, where the Navy’s Fifth Fleet is headquartered in the Arabian Sea. At least 16 of the ships will be assigned to San Diego when they are at home.

Working in groups, the ships will stay abroad for up to 16 months, while crews swap out at four-month intervals.

On its first time out, the Freedom will deploy for eight months.

As a single ship, its mission will be partner-building exercises with Asian navies and security patrols.

That’s pretty low-key work as the ship class is still shaking out some kinks. For example, the Navy still hasn’t decided what missile to include in the Freedom’s anti-ship gear package.

It deployed without such a missile this time and will have to rely on two 30 mm cannons, rolling airframe defense missiles and the ship’s big 57 mm self-defense gun, in addition to helicopters.

But the mood last week along the San Diego Naval Base waterfront was one of excitement and expectation.

Coleman said he hopes the attitude catches.

“I wish people would be more excited about what we’re trying here. I think there’s this tendency to look at these ships, and look at the price tag and find a reason to think that maybe we’re off base,” he said.

“What we’re trying to do from an innovation and efficiency point of view. What we’re trying to do for our ability to maintain presence and engage with regional partners,” Coleman said. “I hope some of that carries through in what people are able to see as Freedom operates in those areas of the world.”